Very Vipiteno – South Tyrol

The tripping hazard of school bags left by the front door marked the ominous end of the Summer yesterday… My older two started at their new school, after a lengthy and painful breakfast that involved a lot of moaning about school uniform (they still can’t get used to having to wear one!).

Whilst the big move held us back from our typical Summer travels, the entire six weeks wasn’t all taken up by unpacking removal boxes thankfully.  In the end we managed to fit in a quick flit to France, hastily followed by an end of Summer jaunt to Sud Tirol for the very last week of the holidays.  Southampton Airport rates quite highly in my incredibly picky UK airport rating list by the way – quiet, empty and civilised, and our little propellered FlyBe Plane to Verona coped gallantly on what was the most turbulent flight I have been on since my Sarajevo trip a few years back (by far the most hair-raising flight I have been on to date)…

When I wasn’t checking the propellers were still going round (and trying to shhh the toddler who was joyfully announcing “yey we falling” to all and sundry – I used to have a really bad flying phobia and this wasn’t helping matters!!), I spent the remainder of the flight trying to work out where I knew the family directly in front of ours from.  Two hours of aqua-planing on the auto-strada later (we arrived in the midst of a big storm hence the bumpy journey!), it suddenly occurred to me that it was Clare from TinBoxTraveller and her family.  She had mentioned they were on their way to Garda for a week – talk about a small World and all that…

Our destination for the week was Alto Adige (or South Tyrol/Sud Tirol however/whatever you like to call it!), an area we have explored extensively in the past. We once had a fabulous Autumn half term in Folgaria, exploring the countryside and visiting as many Malgas as we could (this one is still my favourite!), and another near Bolzano where we were in time to see the cows coming down from their alpine pastures for winter. This time we were in Vipiteno, otherwise known by its Austrian name (which it still was up until 1918) – Sterzing.  Most people still primarily speak German here (it was strange struggling in one language, to be able to switch to one that’s not English that you can get by in!) including at our Hotel – Zum Engel, a Wellness Spa Hotel with additional apartments that are brilliant for families (long gone are the days that my search involves close proximity to night life and local restaurants, now it goes to the top of my list if it has a washing machine!)…

As we were able to self-cater most evenings (making good use of all the gorgeous local produce available. This region is also known for its great dumplings, and I am sad to discover we missed Vipiteno’s Dumpling Festival by a matter of days!) – not fancying the prospect of a formal sit down meal like the vast majority of other guests (we will return to that in a couple of years once the Toddler is a little more amenable to such things!) we made a beautiful discovery! After days mostly spent hiking, we would typically arrive at Zum Engel’s busy spa and pool area at 7pm, whereupon the entire place would empty out by 7.03 (I timed it!) as everyone headed out the door like clockwork for dinner… We then had the place to ourselves for the rest of the evening!!    Zum Engel turned out to be an excellent all round choice. If you are looking for a quiet relaxing place to stay with a wonderful spa, close to some great hiking routes and interesting cities, you could do worse than stay there…

Travelling in this part of the world will always remind us of our other home, and the many adventures we had during our time there. It’s strange how sections of motorway can feel so familiar, and little stories from our collective family memory pop up along the way, like the time we got lost driving to Como and ended up on the world-famous Splugen Pass, or our very first trip to Venice, driving over the stretch of road across the water that links Venice to the rest of the world, with the domes of the ancient city slowly coming into view… It’s perhaps why we keep returning, but there’s always a new mountain to climb, and typically a lovely surprise or two around the corner – a bit like Vipiteno itself…

As Italy’s most Northern town ( it’s often called Italy’s “most beautiful village”), Vipiteno started life as part of the Roman Empire as Vipitenum.  It’s super popular today thanks to its colourful medieval alpine architecture, but it’s not swamped with tourists like Merano or Bolzano for example.    Its 15th century Zwolferturm marks the half way point between the old and new town, and the small medieval square just beyond it makes a great place to sit with a drink and take it all in.

You will also find other historic gems here like the 12th century Castel Tasso perched high on a little hill opposite the Eurospar (which is good for essentials by the way, but you should go to the Hofer Market for decent wine and local specialities)…  There’s also the Deutsch Haus where you will find the City Museum, and if Baroque painted ceilings are your thing, you should definitely head to the Madonna Della Palude just on the outskirts of the town (opposite Hotel Zum Engel!).   It happens to be the tallest church between Munich and Verona, and we had to venture inside quite a few times to inspect the skeleton on horseback being struck by lightning!!

For us definite Vipiteno highlights (as well as the medieval town) included the tree climbing centre close to the station (the kids adore anything like this, and I was more than happy to relax underneath the pines whilst they clambered about like monkeys above!!) and the fact we were able to walk to the Monte Cavallo cable car from our apartment was a real bonus.   Here you can escape the hustle and bustle of town for the gentle whistle of wind on the ride up, right up until you start to hear the clonking of cow bells, which signals that you’ve reached the top…

You don’t have to undertake a huge hike up here by the way- Monte Cavallo was the first mountain of our trip, and the toddler’s not as light as he used to be, neither was he happy to be contained in a back pack for much of the duration, so we explored the alpine playground for a while before hiking to the BergGastHaus Furl (how many playgrounds look like this?) for an obligatory schnitzel and chips (well the Small Boy opted to have his with dumplings – you can take the boy out of Bayern and all that!)…

Heart happy to be back in the mountains again, we took the long loop back to the cable car, soaking in all the gorgeous views, ignoring arguments over whose turn it was to have the walking poles and looking forward to that all important swim back at the Hotel.

Vipiteno was going to be a great base for the week…